surfsup

I hope the area around the marker lights is worked on before release though - I'm not sure why they've left the light BMAC Clusters white, while the TfW and LNER Versions should have the newer arrangement.

God, that "Network Rail 57" looks somewhat tragic. The rest of the proper ex Lima 47s look rather good.

There really does seem to be an attitude of "Here's your model, now take it whether you like it or not" from Hornby these days, which of course is rather sad - Particularly as we've gone from the promising signs of preview models shown in the Engine Shed blog. And Hornby, if you are reading this, it's probably not such a good idea to post a photo of a pretty poorly coloured HST power car in front of the real thing, just showing how badly off the BR Blue on the model is!

That's not one I've heard of before (I think one may apply for the Class 70s though) but I did a rail tour from Kings Cross to Bridlington which utilised a DB92 coupled directly to the Riviera Mk1s around 2009/2010. Looking at Flickr, it seems 92s have worked rail tours with Mk1s since at least 2003.

Add in those moulding lines on the cab of Hornby's power cars too. I just don't get how Lima managed to perfectly capture the face of a HST Power Car 40 years ago (without any additional moulding lines), yet Hornby still can't get it right.

Indeed - The Rail Adventure HST hasn't "fizzled out" but each Power Car is currently having the necessary modifications it needs to work for RA, including the newer high level headlights. Arlington are busy working on them for RA and they should be out doing what RA requires of them fairly soon. We almost seem to live in a world where we feel that we need to be informed 24/7 (Perhaps RA did the press launch too early?!) and are perhaps too quick to write something off as a result. Back to LUMO. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out - the new seats should be interesting to see how they compare to other designs (the same design is expected to be used across Avanti's fleet) and the low fares should make for a decent affordable quick getaway type break. And, although my return journey in LNERs FC wasn't too bad last month, I do feel LNER needs a bit of a shake up too - as someone still awaiting the outcome of several delay repays.

Just a hole at the moment, but it give you an indication of what's coming. And before anyone says so , it isn't being re-united with the (sorry but rubbish) original headlight covers - the "refurbished" headlights will be returning to it once the modifications have been made.

Don't brake too sharply in those either (or leave your coffee un-lided if you do), those truck style cab air suspension don't half wobble when you do!

It's still interesting to see ScotRail contradict itself here - Asking people to continue to use Social Distancing where possible, while physically reducing the still 4 coach HSTs down to 3 coaches, while giving the (in the case of last week at least) TF to non existent travelling staff. This in turn led to a number of services on the Aberdeen route I was travelling on leaving stations being full and standing and sitting wherever you liked. I found a good number of the services I used across Scotland to actually be very busy last week - The Borders Railway, which is now Hourly off peak, utilised a 2 car 158 which was full and standing upon leaving Edinburgh - return journey equally as busy, Edinburgh - Dundee - Edinburgh on the Inter7City's, again near full leaving Edinburgh and picked up more passengers enroute. The return journey was again very well used and full and standing leaving Leuchars. On the electrics front, A trip to North Berwick - very busy for an hourly service, and Bathgate (slightly less busy). Yes, these were leisure trips, but these were across the day. I can only but feel that cutting back a number of these services will only bring positives for Stagecoach and Citylink, and will leave a bad taste in the mouth for ScotRail for a number of years to come, not least after the excellent work carried out largely by First ScotRail over the last few years. Of note, with the changes to the Edinburgh - Perth service to operate as an all stops via Dunfirmline service, not only will that make a slow journey even slower, but it also means the end for the conventional "Fife Circle", with Leven to Edinburgh proposed to run via Kirkcaldy.

I've often looked through eBay only to come across (and laugh at) a Gostit listing. Does the damage come extra with this one? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373666921005?hash=item570048ba2d:g:~P0AAOSw0xhhBRVg

Well, it's certainly a somewhat unexpected and Interesting announcement from Barwell, I Await tomorrow's full announcement with interest. As a big fan of the Brush Type 4, I can feel myself adding one or two to the fleet when they come in the near future. However, a few little observations from me: The marker light glazing is impressive - particularly the attention to detail to get the 'ribs' of the glazing. But, they still look a little too large - perhaps just a fraction too big. Some of Bachmann's previous 47s have had a goggle effect with theirs, I really hope this doesn't repeat that. The rotating fans - These are a bit of a bugbear of mine, something that is nice to have but are they really necessary? After all, you wont be watching them rotate while it's on the move. Fingers crossed that they'll be powered separately though, as I've found the rotating fans on Hornby's HST to impact it's performance (enough that I've disconnected mine and binned off the mechanism). Now, Opening and closing Radiator grilles would be a hugely impressive feature!

Even if Oxford Rail is to remain a separate brand, I hope that some models are moved into the Hornby main range - particularly the Mk3s. Bringing those across now would / should give Hornby enough time to make the refinements that they require, and hopefully allow the range to see the expansion it deserves - a top quality tooled Mk3 should be an absolute goldmine considering the number of liveries / operators / changes & uses they've had over the years!

Wrong PC David - 058 (one of the Green ones and the leading PC) was the power which failed yesterday, leaving 046 to do a lot of the work on the Central Wales line itself - pushing load 9 + 1 dead power car + the weight from it's new generator + yesterdays hot weather all took it's toll unfortunately.

Indeed, The Lymington branch went back over to a fully electrified service after the December 2018 timetable change, when enough 707s had arrived at the London end - freeing up the 450s to re-cover both the Lymington branch and a handful of other services operated by 158s over the third rail (Basingstoke - Totton, Winchester - Totton, 22:22 Basingstoke - Fratton I believe where the 3 main ones).

An appropriate picture for today’s news as, Thanks to Porterbrook’s generosity, 43159 has now joined 43102 in Preservation. This now means that both world record holding power cars are preserved - 102 with the NRM and 159 with the 125 Group. Here it stands with 43192 (and 43041 in the distance) at Reading on the 4th of February 2019. https://www.125group.org.uk/porterbrooks-generous-donation-completes-hst-story-showcase/?fbclid=IwAR1S5_xKprvEDVgWQu5G67NkBpaX8FO9P8Q6Lu0hI6xmjpg6WxrU396kmx0

The van space in the rear part of the power cars is now filled with a rather large Inmesol diesel generator to provide additional hotel power for the rake. Such is the power draw of the super kitchen (40802) and cocktail bar (40801) that the additional generators supply additional power for it - kitchen equipment doesn't like the fluctuations a 'normal' power car ETS can supply, as the frequencies fluctuate as the engine revs change (as does the air con systems on Mk3s).

On a small side note, only the Angel Trains leased units will be heading down to Ely. Porterbrook vehicles will either go to Burton or to Long Marston (when Porterbrook take's ownership).

Slightly bending the topic, but I wonder if Hornby will do the EMT / EMR "Angel Sets" next - The buffered power car is currently in production, it is a version they haven't done before and it ticks the boxes of the EMT livery (even if it's not the full fat original version from 2007). Once these LSL / RCS Mk3s are produced, I wonder if they'll modify the next batch to GA or GA unbranded as well?

It is, and will be on it's way to Ruddington at some point. It's move to Butterly allows the group to access and work on it (whereas access was limited at Chaddesden).

I've seen a number of complaints over on various Facebook pages with regards to the light bleed on these, as well as the extra moulding line (tool crack perhaps?). I wonder if it's a batch wide issue or just a handful of DVTs with the issue?

I did see that too - which raised a smirk given Hornby's "stance" on supporting the smaller shops - Harburn Hobbies are a 5 minute walk away down the Leith Walk, and you've got a few other shops including Rainbow Railways not too far away in Linlithgow.

I too find the Oxford Rail Mk3 situation rather odd - QC issues aside, which with a few tweaks at the factory could be easily rectifiable, they are a coach which deserved to be churned out in there droves! It's not as if there isn't a plethora of liveries to chose from either - and like you, I to find they do make an idea base for a repaint or conversion. I had hoped the Mk3 range was to be shunted into Hornby's range this year but alas not.

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An incident which 190 never really fully recovered from - It suffered a bent cab frame from that incident and was regular being booked for issues with the cab door not fully closing. If there's one Power Car I'd let go for spares, it would be that one. The ScotRail 385s seem to now be suffering from the same issues with 9 units now reported to be stopped (up from 2 this morning). I wonder if it could be a combination of issues with the metal (Hitachi were affected by the Kobe Steel scandal) and a design issue that is causing the metal fatigue? Also reported that the 395s are being checked today as a precaution - although older, this has certainly rattled Hitachi.

Slight point of note - the bottom two appear to be the CAF affected units, but the green one certainly isn't British - Quite possibly Irish Rail? I'm not sure if the West Fleet HSTs can run up to Didcot - I have a feeling Swindon was their limit as GWR in their wisdom had removed them from the safety case into Paddington. That and some of the Bristol crews still sign them.